IMA Robot at The Mercury Lounge, New York, NY: September 27, 2006

A sense of déjà vu swept over me the moment I walked into The Mercury Lounge. Nearly three years ago, IMA Robot stormed the stage of Club Sin-e really early in the evening, tackling a mostly hipster/industry audience with their blend of ‘70s style punk and Bowie-era new wave. The audience (not yet buzzed off their Jack and Cokes) staggered dazed as the band, led by the most awkward singer ever, tore the place to bits—literally smashing equipment and most of the stage monitors.

Not much has changed for the band over the last few years. Their self-titled debut tanked, but garnered them an obsessive female fan base. They toured most of the world with The Sounds and remained undercover as other neuvo wave bands crashed when the next big scene came along (i.e., My Chemical Romance).

IMA Robot is back with a familiar sounding record that still straddles the line between balls out punk and electronica. Their live show has toned down quite a bit. Singer Alex Ebert no longer looks like he’s two minutes away from convulsing on the floor and ODing on god knows what. The instrument trashing has given way to better musicianship, and the songs are just more cohesive and catchy. The band played most of the tunes off their sophomore effort “Monument to the Masses,” and handful of songs from their first record. Every note was pitch perfect, and you had to wonder for a second if the keyboardist sporting the computer had something to do with it, but one look at the passion in Ebert’s eyes and it was plain as day that he was singing every note.

The band stretched the set out to an hour after being beckoned by the sound guy to get off stage. They finished with a revamped version of their indie-classic “Black Jettas” to the excitement of many girls in the front row.